Maze Runner franchise moves forward with sequel ‘The Scorch Trials’

The Scorch Trials, the follow up novel to The Maze Runner, has entered pre-production and filming will begin soon.

Although The Maze Runner movie doesn’t hit theaters until September 19, 20th Century Fox has made the bold decision to advance with a sequel in the young adult franchise.

We told you in October that the sequel had been green lit by Fox and that a script was being worked on, but an actual timetable for when to expect the movie had yet to be announced.

In a BuzzFeed interview released today, Wes Ball shared that the movie should begin filming soon, “We’ve got stages, we’ve got crews coming in, Dylan [O’Brien] will be back in a few weeks, we’re building sets, and the script is being written.” The director went on to share, “It’s a bit of a race this time because we’re cautiously optimistic, but we’re feeling excited we’re about to do something that’s way more sophisticated, way more grown up, and really set up a saga here.”

In an additional interview that Ball did with the Entertainment Inquirer he mentions that the film is looking to shoot in the New Mexico area.

He also had this to say about the follow up story: “We have a lot more resources, a bit more freedom. We’ll continue to tell the story and pick up where the last one left off. What’s really fun about it is that we keep exploring these characters that you fall in love with in the first one. We just go into them in a deeper way. We get to be a little bit more mature and sophisticated in the movie itself. It’s also bigger in terms of scope and scale. But it’s also a much deeper film. So we are all really excited, pushing forward,” going as far to say that the movie will be out in about a year.

It’s an extremely fast turn around from the completion of one movie onto the next, but for fans who have been paying close attention this isn’t exactly shocking news. In The Maze Runner panel at San Degio Comic-Con this year, Ball actually released the first concept image for The Scorch Trials film, heavily suggesting that he would be returning for the follow up

For two years, the Gladers held on to the hope that solving the maze meant that they would get to go home. But after their escape, they quickly discover that they couldn’t be more wrong. It turns out that the maze was just the beginning, and life outside the maze is dramatically different than they imagined in their foggy, wiped memories. Now the Gladers must cross the Scorch–a vast wasteland filled with Flare victims and treacherous conditions–in two weeks, or die trying.